Biography

Md Mehdi Masud, graduated in 2025, at the University of California, Merced (UC Merced), bringing extensive research experience in materials science. His Ph.D. research, with Professor Dr. David Strubbe, focuses on computational condensed matter physics, where he employs methodologies such as density functional theory (DFT), random phase approximation (RPA), and some beyond-DFT approaches like DFT+U, DFT with hybrid functionals, GW/BSE techniques to explore the structural, electronic and spectroscopic properties of solids under high-energy density conditions. His work seeks to unveil material behavior in extreme environments. He completed a graduate internship (advised by Dr. Keith Ray) at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (LLNL), where he collaborated on projects analyzing the elastic properties of amorphous materials to investigate TLS-TLS interactions.

Mehdi has been frequently using high-performance computing (HPC) resources, utilizing Python and Bash scripting for data analysis, visualization, and workflow automation. He has been fluently running his simulations and computations on Perlmutter super computer (NERSC), Pinnacles cluster (UC Merced) and MERCED (UC Merced), optimizing codes for efficient performance.

Mehdi's academic journey includes an M.Phil. from Bangladesh University of Engineering and Technology (BUET) (supervised by Prof. Dr. Md. Abu Hashan Bhuiyan), where he synthesized plasma-polymerized thin solid films through PE-CVD technique and characterized those solid thin films via SEM, EDS, AFM, FTIR, UV-Vis. spectroscopy, thermal analyses as well as electric conductivity analyses. He also holds an M.S. from Jahangirnagar University (supervised by Prof. Dr. A A Mamun), where his thesis investigated the computational properties of plasma waves, particularly how the solitary waves or shock waves or double layers form and what can affect their properties. With a blend of theoretical and experimental expertise, Mehdi's research contributions span diverse areas of physics and materials science.

Mehdi brings over five years of teaching experience as a faculty member at BUET, where he developed a passion for mentoring and educating future scientists.

In addition to his academic achievements, Mehdi is actively involved in leadership and outreach initiatives. He has served as an executive committee member of UC Merced’s Graduate Student Association, an American Physical Society student ambassador, and a volunteer reviewer for several scientific journals (of AIP, IOP, Springer, etc). These roles highlight his dedication to fostering inclusive scientific communities and mentoring the next generation of researchers.

Currently, Mehdi is working as a postdoctoral research associate at University of Illinois Chicago to perform predicting materials properties via DFT, MD and ML.